REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 25 



horizon had been well-nigh impossible. During the summer of 1937, 

 however, Dr. WedeFs investigations in southern Platte County had 

 disclosed village sites with artifacts evidently related to the Hope- 

 wellian complex of the upper Mississippi drainage; concurrently 

 amateurs nearby reported the finding of similar pottery in a stone 

 enclosure. With renewed hopes that some of the mystery surround- 

 ing these structures might finally be dispelled, excavations were re- 

 sumed along the north bank of the Missouri between Parkville and 

 Farley. 



Nine enclosures were examined; all had been dug into previously 

 and two were so hopelessly plundered as to give no reliable in- 

 formation. From the others it was established that the chambers 

 vary from 6 to 9 feet across, are square to oval in outline, and range 

 from 2 to nearly 4 feet deep. They consist of a carefully laid up 

 mortarless wall of horizontal slabs, against which other large flat 

 rocks were leaned. The area thus covered was about 15 feet in 

 diameter. Two mounds yielded the dismembered skeletons of per- 

 haps a dozen individuals, apparently of a medium-statured long- 

 headed people. Artifacts were very rare and inconclusive, but it 

 was noted that shell-tempered smooth and incised pottery occurred 

 in portions of the structures which had been disturbed in pre- 

 white days. Although direct proof is mostly lacking, it seems likely 

 that the original structures in this vicinity were built by a people 

 with Hopewellian affinities who were probably among the earliest 

 potters and farmers in the eastern plains. 



Near Farley, on the right bank of the Platte River, a prehistoric 

 village and cemetery with different cultural connections was ex- 

 plored. Here the natives dwelt in earth-covered partly subterranean 

 structures whose roofs were borne by four central posts. Shell- 

 tempered pottery, often with incised lines, was abundant. Present 

 also are small notched and unnotched points, scrapers, knives, drills, 

 paired sandstone shaft-buffers, the polished adz or gouge, effigy 

 pipes, fine-grained sandstone ornaments, bone awls, longitudinally 

 pierced deer phalanges for cup-and-pin game, shell hoes, twisted 

 cordage, maize, beans, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and a few ani- 

 mal bones. In the nearby cemetery were more than 80 primary 

 extended, bundle, and flexed burials, apparently of a short broad- 

 headed population. Pottery generally indicates close relationships 

 to that found on certain so-called middle Mississippi sites in south- 

 ern Illinois and elsewhere. 



On August 14, following intensive excavations in western Mis- 

 souri, Dr. Wedel proceeded to Pueblo, Colo., to investigate caves 

 reported to have disclosed traces of Indian occupancy. About 2 

 weeks were devoted to reconnaissance in the Purgatoire and tribu- 



